Reaching Santorini

When Santorini island was seen by the passengers of Cristal ship, something magical happened aboard! Everybody rushed on the decks and watched the amazing scenery of the caldera. The video cameras and the photo cameras were working very hard! Every single moment was unique as we were in front of the most spectacular scenery ever seen. A quiet imposing cliff on one side and a black volcanic island on the other had left us speechless.

Santorini caldera

The black lava stones of the volcano were glittering under the sun shine which made the colors of the Nature amazingly vivid. I do not think that even the most talented painter would ever achieve such an impressive colors pallet.

Santorini volcano

A nice surprise

We would reach Santorini in a couple of hours so we went to our cabins for a quick rest before going to the upper desk in order to watch the caldera as the ship would approach it.

Cristal ship - Disco deck

Once having entered my cabin, which I was share with two our friends, a nice surprise waited us. Our cabin steward had used our pool towels in order to make a big shell that he had placed on our bed. It was such a cute present!

Cristal ship - Cabin - Pools towels in a shell shape!!

Generally speaking all crew members were surprisingly polite and smiled at us whenever they saw us walking along the corridors of the cabin decks or when they welcomed as at the restaurants or even when they came across us at the stairs or at the sundeck. I think that it was a very friendly hospitality that made us feel really comfortable. As far as tipping is concerned, the company’s policy was to keep a small amount of money (8 euros per day/per person) from our deposit for tipping so that avoiding giving money to the waiters or the stewards. However, if somebody did not agree with that specific, they could fill a form at the accounts department in which they could mention how much money they wanted to give for tips, without any restrictions.